Tag Archives: James Finley
Oneness: Weekly Summary
Oneness Summary: Sunday, September 22—Friday, September 27, 2019 When we carry our small suffering in solidarity with humanity’s one universal longing for deep union, it helps keep us from self-pity or self-preoccupation. We know that we are all in this together. (Sunday) God is the force that is binding, moving, sustaining, and transforming all of… Continue Reading Oneness: Weekly Summary
Alumni Quarterly — Fall 2019
Dear Living School Alumni, The new Alumni Quarterly is here—and this issue takes up addiction, a challenging theme for us all. If you are a recent Living School “sendee,” welcome! And if you are a long-time alum, a hearty hello to you, too. This electronic magazine exists to resource your daily lives at the intersection… Continue Reading Alumni Quarterly — Fall 2019
God Interrupting
Conscious Parenting God Interrupting Thursday, June 27, 2019 Brie Stoner shares her experience in the Living School as a mother of young children: I was sitting in the women’s bathroom between sessions and had exactly thirteen minutes before the next talk to pump and dump my breast milk. [1] Every woman walking by me would… Continue Reading God Interrupting
The Gate of Heaven
Heaven Now The Gate of Heaven Thursday, May 2, 2019 James Finley, one of the Center for Action and Contemplation’s core faculty members, was a spiritual directee of Thomas Merton (1915–1968) at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Drawing from this experience and his own insights as a student of the mystics and a clinical psychologist, Finley… Continue Reading The Gate of Heaven
Dying to Ego’s Delusions
Dying Before You Die Dying to Ego’s Delusions Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Dying to the false self before our physical death allows us to be reborn as our more authentic and soulful selves. Today James Finley, one of CAC’s core faculty members, reflects on how hard it is for our ego to surrender to the… Continue Reading Dying to Ego’s Delusions
Sustaining Awareness
Contemplation: Week 2 Sustaining Awareness Thursday, December 20, 2018 As we saw yesterday, there are many forms of contemplative practice. CAC faculty member James Finley describes how meditation—another name for contemplation—is simply any practice that opens us up to Presence: There is something about simply sitting still, quietly attentive to your breathing, that tends to… Continue Reading Sustaining Awareness
Love: Week 1 Summary
Love: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, October 28-Friday, November 2, 2018 My hope, whenever I speak or write, is to help clear away the impediments to receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in a foundational Love. (Sunday) The contemplative is not just aware of God’s Loving Presence, but trusts, allows, and delights in it. (Monday) For Jesus,… Continue Reading Love: Week 1 Summary
Searching for Love
Love: Week 1 Searching for Love Friday, November 2, 2018 All Souls’ Day John of the Cross (1542-1591) is one of many Christian mystics who writes about being loved by God in an intimate way. My friend and fellow CAC faculty member James Finley reflects on John’s Dark Night of the Soul as a journey… Continue Reading Searching for Love
The Face of the Others
Love: Week 1 The Face of the Others Wednesday, October 31, 2018 In Jesus, God gave us a human heart we could love. While God can be described as a moral force, as consciousness, and as high vibrational energy, the truth is, we don’t (or can’t?) fall in love with abstractions. So God became a… Continue Reading The Face of the Others
Suffering: Week 2 Summary
Suffering: Week 2 Summary: Sunday, October 21-Friday, October 26, 2018 The genius of Jesus’ ministry is that he reveals that God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself (all of which are normally inevitable), not to punish us but, in fact, to bring us to God and to our True Self, which are frequently… Continue Reading Suffering: Week 2 Summary
